


the dark

by joelee



Category: Joeck - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-24
Updated: 2017-04-24
Packaged: 2018-10-23 15:24:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10722033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joelee/pseuds/joelee
Summary: It is past midnight but Joe refuses to sleep.





	the dark

His skin seems paler in the dark, Jack observes, sitting back against the headboard. It's past midnight and he's tired, but the other boy isn't and the silence of the room compels him to be quiet, to look. The curve of Joe's back faces Jack from the other side of the bed where he is sat, but for once his hunger is gone. Joe is naked save for his boxers and suddenly Jack can see his beauty, his rose colored glasses on the bedside table. His silhouette blurs into the background but everything seems more real.

"What are you thinking about?" Joe asks, quietly, not quite looking at him. He's just looking at the wall. Jack wonders why.

"I could ask you the same thing," Jack says, laughing nervously. The air feels tense but calm; a tension between the soft duvet and the wiry brain of the boy in front of him. If it were up to Jack, they would already be in bed, his arms wrapped tightly around the smaller boy. But they aren't because Joe refuses to sleep, instead sitting on the edge of it and staring into nothing. Jack's skin prickles uneasily; the air in the room is colder at this time of night. 

"I'm thinking about you," Jack offers, unsettled by Joe's lack of answer to his last response. He wishes that the brunette would share his thoughts once in a while so that they could just go to bed! He stares at a smooth bit of skin on Joe's shoulder. He wants to kiss it.

"I'm not thinking about much," Joe says then, shrugging. "I'm just not very tired. You can sleep if you want to, Jack."

"I can't sleep without you... you know that," Jack says, quietly. Is it alright for him to admit that? Have they been together long enough? The sharp silence in the air has brought back his insecurities in echoing bounds in his head; how could Joe love him like he says he does? Sometimes he just doesn't act like he sees the blonde boy at all. 

It hurts him that is he scared of the same boy that the whole of his being wills him to protect. To hold. What is Joe doing? The air is suddenly so suffocating, and Jack draws back and sits up further against the headboard.

"No, I didn't know that," mutters Joe, finally. His voice is soft but rugged around the edges, and he turns and looks at Jack and Jack takes his hands into his own and they are the same; soft but rugged, loving but worn. He wonders if it is just the low lighting playing tricks on his mind. 

"Come to bed," Jack says, pulling the boy towards him, and the blurred edges begin to unwind. It is dark and cold but his eyes are bright and his hands are warm. Joe reluctantly shuffles next to him but he doesn't get under the covers, and they are uncovered, for only a moment. There is so much that Jack does not understand and the realization gnaws at his heart.

He looks at Joe then, really looks: at the way his hair falls messily onto his forehead, at the way his body curves with every muscle and bone he has, at the way he diverts his eyes from Jack's when he looks at him. He briefly wonders who Joe really is. It hurts, because he knows he will never truly understand him. Maybe Joe could say the same thing about Jack. 

"You know, I'm afraid of the dark," Joe says, quietly. 

"I'm afraid of you," Jack whispers back. The corners of Joe's mouth curve up in an apologetic smile, or maybe Jack imagined it, and then he turns away. 

"I know."

**Author's Note:**

> (written 4/22/17)


End file.
